Ambrym volcano lava lakes now 30-50% smaller

During a recent Vanuatu volcano expedition by volcanodiscovery.com, a small group stayed 4 days and nights in the Ambrym caldera.

Expedition leader volcanologist Yashmin Chebli reported, “I confirm the presence of a permanent and continuous activity of both lava lakes inside the Benbow and Marum craters.

“The lava lakes levels are relatively low, about 5m less compared with the previous year in 2016. The surface of both lava lakes is also more reduced about 30% for Benbow and 50% for Marum.

“However there is an intense activity of degassing with a strong bubbling of both lava lakes. This decrease of the lava lake level could well correspond to a magma escape through an intrusive body like in a crustal storage system, so causing a decrease of the lava level in the main conduct, or also it could be the result of an important loss of gas bound to the strong degassing.

“The decreasing of lava lake levels could be well in correlation with the seismic events on March 28th, 2017 ; In particular we can note some collapses of the internal wall of the Benbow crater.”